This presentation was held by Emelie Zonabend König at the interntional seminar 'Livestock Resources for Food Security in the Light of Climate Change' co-hosted by SIANI and SLU Global in Uppsala on the 11th of March 2016.

1. Breeding Programme and Infrastructure
– The Case of Red Maasai Sheep in Kenya
EMELIE ZONABEND KÖNIG
Painting: Frances Simpson, Kenya
Website: http://www.francessimpson.co/

2. Breeding Programme and Infrastructure
– the Case of Red Maasai Sheep in Kenya
§ Supervisors and co-authors
§ Dept. of Animal Breeding and GeneDcs
§ InternaDonal Livestock Research InsDtute
§ Food and Agricultural OrganizaDon of the United NaDons
§ Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
§ Farmers and stakeholders
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

3. § Livestock are important
§ Sub-Saharan Africa holds 25% of the sheep and goat
populaDon and 20% of the caSle populaDon in the world
§ Livestock in Africa contribute to 22% of agriculture GDP, more
in East Africa
CONTRIBUTION OF LIVESTOCK TO THE LIVELIHOOD
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
Africa Asia Europe Northern America Oceania South America &
Caribbean
Millionofheads
Cattle
Chickens (10 million)
Goats
Pigs
Sheep

4. § Currently 800 million people are undernourished, most in sub-
Saharan Africa
§ Larger proporDon of protein from animal source is needed
§ Increased producDvity per animal is needed
FOOD SECURITY

5. § Higher temperatures and unforeseeable weather paSerns
§ A threat to livestock producDon
§ Animals need to cope with changes
§ Consider geneDc diversity
CLIMATE CHANGE AND DIVERSITY

6. BREEDING STRATEGIES AND SUPPORTIVE
INFRASTRUCTURE
§ Breeding strategies are vital to conserve and improve breeds
§ SupporDve infrastructure is needed
§ Policies are drivers for the sector
§ Recording systems are needed

7. § Widely distributed
§ MulDfuncDonal
§ Lower capital requirements and shorter generaDon interval
compared to caSle
§ Survive beSer than caSle
SHEEP ARE IMPORTANT

8. § Indigenous breed in Kenya and
neighbouring countries
§ Fat tailed sheep
§ Disease resistant and drought
tolerant
§ Used to be very common
§ Indiscriminately crossed with
Dorper for beSer meat producDon
§ Red Maasai populaDon drasDcally
declining – threatened breed
RED MAASAI SHEEP

9. § Imported from South Africa
§ SyntheDc breed of Dorset
and Blackhead Persian
breeds
§ Meat type breed
§ Not adapted enough to
harsh climaDc condiDons
§ Uncontrolled
crossbreeding with Red
Maasai
DORPER SHEEP

10. § Assess infrastructure for the support of sustainable use of
animal geneDc resources
§ InvesDgate traits of preference for breeding objecDves and
breed differences of Red Maasai, Dorper sheep and their
crosses in two different low input areas
§ Study opportuniDes for improvement of Red Maasai sheep by
comparing purebreeding with different levels of crossbreeding
with Dorper sheep in two environmentally different areas
AIMS OF THE THESIS
TO STUDY POTENTIAL BREEDING STRATEGIES APPLICABLE TO
INDIGENOUS LIVESTOCK WITHIN EASTERN AND SOUTHERN AFRICA

11. STUDIES INCLUDED IN THESIS
I Infrastructure for sustainable use of animal genetic resources
in Southern and Eastern Africa
II Participatory definition of breeding objectives for sheep
breeds under pastoral systems – the case of Red Maasai and
Dorper sheep in Kenya
III Live weight, conformation, carcass traits and economic
values of ram lambs of Red Maasai and Dorper sheep and their
crosses
IV Purebreeding of Red Maasai and crossbreeding with Dorper
sheep in different environments in Kenya

12. INFRASTRUCTURE FOR SUSTAINABLE USE OF
ANIMAL GENETIC RESOURCES
Uganda
Zambia
Botswana
M
ozam
bique
Kenya
Tanzania
Describe and assess the
exisDng infrastructure for
animal geneDc resources in a
sample of countries in
Southern and Eastern Africa

13. § Livestock policy existed but not always breeding policies
§ Countries with least university training in animal breeding had
the most poorly developed policies and infrastructure
§ InsDtuDons and organizaDons were poorly linked
§ Livestock recording was limited
§ No country had fully funcDoning breeding programmes
RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS
INFRASTRUCTURE

14. WORKING WITH PEOPLE…
Stakeholders working with animal breeding issues
Pilot sheep recording scheme in two Maasai village areas
- Similar data from research ranches
(KapiD and Naivasha)
Amboseli,
Pastoral Group Ranch, in [II]
Kapiti Plains,
ILRI Research Station,
in [III]
Isinya,
Semi Pastoral Farming,
in [II]
Naivasha,
Governmental farms
Nairobi
Kenya

15. RECORDING GROWTH, HEALTH AND FERTILITY
ON RED MAASAI, DORPER SHEEP AND THEIR CROSSES
Interviews Defining age Ear tagging
Weighing Linear measurements Reproduction and Diseases

16. PARTICIPATORY DEFINITION OF
BREEDING OBJECTIVES
Nairobi
Amboseli,
Pastoral Group Ranch
extremly harsh
Isinya,
Semi Pastoral Farming
semi-harsh
Kenya
Aimed to characterize Red Maasai, Dorper and their crosses and
determine farmers’ trait preferences

17. 0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Growth and Body
size
Condition Milk production Mothering ability
and
Reproduction
Drought and
Disease
resistance
Dorper
Red Maasai
Cross
Relative percentage of responses
WHAT FARMERS LIKE IN THEIR SHEEP
BREEDING OBJECTIVES

18. DIFFERENT NEEDS DEPENDING ON ENVIRONMENT
BREEDING OBJECTIVES
§ Red Maasai was similar in both environments
§ Dorper and crosses had higher body weight in Isinya
§ All breed groups produced more milk in Amboseli
§ Farmers were willing to pay more than twice as much for Dorper
in Isinya compared to Amboseli

19. LIVE WEIGHT, CONFORMATION, CARCASS TRAITS
AND ECONOMIC VALUES
§ Crossbreds were generally superior to purebreds
§ Dorper had a larger body size but carcass weight did not differ
§ Evaluators were willing to pay more for Dorper
§ Dressing percentage was higher for Red Maasai
§ Live weight was the best measure in predicDng carcass weight
Aimed at invesDgaDng breed differences for meat producDon

20. PUREBREEDING OF RED MAASAI AND
CROSSBREEDING WITH DORPER SHEEP
Aimed to examine the opportuniDes for conservaDon and
improvement of Red Maasai sheep
Kenya
Nairobi
Amboseli,
Pastoral Group Ranch in [II]
arid, far from infrastructure
Kapiti Plains,
Research Station, ILRI
in [III], semi-arid,
similar to Isinya
Isinya,
Semi Pastoral Farming
in [II], semi-arid

21. PUREBREEDING OF RED MAASAI AND
CROSSBREEDING WITH DORPER SHEEP
1. Purebreeding
of Red Maasai
2. Purebreeding
with subnucleus
3. Including also
crossbreeding
4. Crossbreeding
with subnucleus
KapiD
Isinya Amboseli

22. PUREBREEDING AND CROSSBREEDING
§ The annual producDon of lamb meat per ewe increased by 1.1 kg
over 15 years
§ GeneDc improvement was rather high for carcass weight and low
for survival and milk yield
§ Crossbreeding could be favourable in a beSer environment
§ Purebreeding of Red Maasai was best in harsh environments
§ Purebreeding, scenario 2, gave highest income, carcass weight and
geneDc improvement
RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

23. § Skilled personnel, clear policies and properly mandated
insDtuDons are needed for sustainable use of animal geneDc
resources
§ Body size, milk and survival were important to include in breeding
objecDves
§ Differences in body size were found between breed groups and
environments, but only small differences in the harshest
environment
§ Carcasses of Dorper lambs were not heavier even though the
lambs were heavier live
§ In harsh condiDons only purebreeding of Red Maasai is best
§ A nucleus breeding programme could improve producDvity of an
indigenous breed
OVERALL CONCLUSIONS
Thanks!

24. Breeding Programme and Infrastructure
– The Case of Red Maasai Sheep in Kenya
EMELIE ZONABEND KÖNIG